Dr. Luana Marques
- Global Speaker, Author, Executive Coach
- Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School
- Author of 'Bold Move: A 3-Step Plan to Transform Anxiety into Power'
- Former President of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America
- Harvard Board of Directors
- Qualcomm
- Newman University Nurses Conference
- R360 Global
- Better Business Bureau (BBB)
- Vista Equity Partners
- Foundation for Women's Leadership and Empowerment
- Synchrony Bank
- TEDx Conference Atlanta
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen Law Firm
"Having worked and interacted with Luana several times, I can tell you she is smart, funny, clear, and concise. My team and I have featured her prominently both on our podcast and our app. Each time, the audience has loved it. Luana knows anxiety from the inside and can smoothly and compassionately guide you out of it."
-Dan Harris, Co-Founder, Ten Percent Happier"Dr. Marques has a magnetic presence, and her slides are both informative and aesthetically pleasing. This was by far one of the best virtual speaking events that HCUK had hosted over the past year."
-Victoria Leung, Member of the Board, Events Chair, Harvard Club of the United Kingdom"Dr. Luana was a fantastic partner who offered tremendous insight to both our managers and employees on well-being. Her presentations were thoughtful and relatable and offered our employees practical tools and ideas to build mental resilience."
-Shavit Bar-Nahum, SVP, Global HR Talent Partner, Moody’s Shared Services"Dr. Luana Marques is a standout speaker who captivates audiences with a style that is commanding but relatable, substantive but entertaining. Her topic of anxiety is universal and timely, and I've seen her customize it for completely different audiences. She has all the credentials you could ask for, but her best quality is making a talk a human and meaningful experience that everyone will leave with a sense of being moved, challenged, and inspired."
-Mark Fortier, Founder & President of Fortier Public Relations"A gifted public speaker, Dr. Luana merges her passion for her subject matter with ample experience and scientific research to offer useful insights that are relevant to every person in any audience. Her presentation was dynamic and interactive, responding in real-time to audience perceptions and questions."
-Harvard 4 Public Health"I was lucky enough to hear Dr. Marques present a few ways of transforming our anxiety into the courage to take bold actions. Thanks to her excellent communication skills, I was touched by her stories and came away from her presentation feeling empowered to be bolder. Her talk was transformative!"
-Madeleine Carrier Laperriere, Manager at Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth"I had the good fortune to listen to a talk given by Luana earlier this year at a SaaS tool end-user conference. She provided all of us with some powerful insights and tools showing how to take the anxiety that we all experience and turn it into real personal power. Her material is grounded in science and data which gave me a high level of confidence in Laura and the material. I would love the opportunity to hear another talk from Luana. I'm fortunate to have a signed copy of her book, BOLD MOVE, which I highly recommend as well."
-Michael Higgins, Senior Vice President Human Resources at Getting Americas"WOW!!!! Compelling, Practical, and Relatable! A must see. Dr. Luana’s message helped our attendees understand anxiety much clearer as it applies to their daily lives. She was authentic and showed her vulnerability by sharing her own personal experiences and challenges. Dr. Luana emphasized that anxiety is the symptom and not the underlying problem. She was able to clearly demonstrate how people commonly use avoidance tactics to prevent the discomfort caused by anxiety and simple suggestions on ways that we can break out of that cycle. Her ability to relate to the audience as both a professional and a parent was an added bonus and truly appreciated. She kept our attendees engaged with her message by keeping them involved through her presentation. The connection to real world examples validated her message and made the audience be able to relate to their own life experiences. Additionally, she provided the analogy of anxiety being like a fever and that we do things to reduce the fever, but we aren't treating the underlying infection/issue. That hit home for much of the attendees and really made a lot of sense. I would recommend Dr. Luana without any hesitation to be a presenter for any organization or event."
-Randie Odebralski, CEO Good Days
The Bold Move: Leading with Clarity in Uncertain Times
Ideal for: Senior executives, leadership teams, decision-makers.
Uncertainty is constant, yet many leaders hesitate, delay decisions, or struggle to move forward with confidence. This keynote breaks down the science behind avoidance and provides executives with tools to recognize hesitation in real-time, override automatic avoidance patterns, and take decisive action—even when the path is unclear:
- Why uncertainty triggers hesitation and how to override it.
- Practical strategies for making fast, confident decisions under pressure.
- Case studies of leaders who transformed uncertainty into opportunity.
- How to foster a culture of bold, strategic leadership within an organization.
Audience Takeaways:
- Understand why avoidance—not fear—is the real obstacle to effective leadership.
- Learn how uncertainty triggers hesitation and master neuroscience-backed techniques to counteract it.
- Apply the Bold Move ® framework to lead with clarity, confidence, and speed—without getting stuck in over-analysis.
Breaking the Freeze: Turning Uncertainty into Bold Action
Ideal for: Corporate teams, sales organizations, professionals facing change.
When businesses face rapid change, what holds organizations back the most isn’t external pressure—it’s internal hesitation. This keynote explores the three major ways professionals stay stuck—Retreat, React, and Remain—and delivers a step-by-step method for shifting from avoidance to action:
- The hidden costs of avoidance—how hesitation slows execution and creates misalignment.
- How teams can identify and override automatic avoidance responses.
- The Shift, Align, Act™ method for making confident decisions without overanalyzing.
- Practical strategies to transform stagnation into momentum in high-stakes environments.
Audience Takeaways:
- Recognize and break free from the three core ways avoidance holds back leadership and team performance.
- Master agile decision-making using the Shift, Align, Act™ method—reducing hesitation and overthinking.
Turn stagnation into momentum by transforming hesitation into bold action, no matter the industry challenges.
The Science of Bold Culture: Embracing Change to Unlock Performance
Ideal for: Organizations seeking cultural transformation.
Uncertainty affects more than decision-making—it shapes company culture. When avoidance becomes the norm, organizations lose agility, innovation stagnates, and employees disengage. This keynote reveals the psychology behind high-performing, adaptable teams and how leaders can embed bold decision-making into the company’s DNA:
- How hesitation and avoidance become cultural defaults—and how to shift them.
- Behavioral science behind adaptable, innovative workplace cultures.
- Real-world examples of organizations that broke the freeze and created a culture of action.
- How to embed a bias toward bold action into workplace values.
Audience Takeaways:
- Discover how high-performing organizations use behavioral science to stay adaptable and innovative.
- Learn how to identify cultural avoidance patterns and transform them into organizational strength.
Gain tools to create a workplace culture that embraces bold action—even in uncertain times.
Bold Move: The Science of Taking Action in Times of Change
Ideal for: Company-wide audiences, all professional levels.
The biggest challenge during change isn’t the change itself—it’s the instinct to avoid discomfort. This keynote provides a science-backed playbook for breaking through hesitation and making bold action a habit:
- Why the brain resists change—and how to train it for action.
- How to recognize personal and organizational avoidance patterns.
- Practical strategies for moving through discomfort, making decisions faster, and creating lasting momentum.
- Real-life examples of individuals and companies that applied these strategies successfully.
Audience Takeaways:
- Understand why hesitation feels natural—but is costly in the long run.
- Learn how to override fear-based hesitation and take decisive action.
Build a personalized action plan to stay bold, even in uncertainty.
